West Bengal : 4 TMC leaders including 2 ministers arrested, Mamata Banerjee arrives at CBI office

On May 17, 2021

Kolkata : Four leaders, including 2 ministers of West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee government, have been arrested by the CBI. The agency on Monday arrested ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee. Apart from this, TMC MLA Madan Mitra and former Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee have also been arrested. These leaders have been arrested in connection with the Narada sting operation. On Monday, the agency team reached the house of these officers and brought them to their office in Kolkata’s Nizam Palace for questioning.

Meanwhile, CM Mamata Banerjee herself has reached the CBI office to oppose the CBI action. This action of the CBI on behalf of TMC has been termed as a step taken in retaliation. Apart from Mamata Banerjee, TMC MPs Kalyan Banerjee and Santanu Sen have also reached the CBI office. Not only this, Sovan Chatterjee’s wife Ratna has also reached the agency’s office.

West Bengal: TMC Ministers Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, MLA Madan Mitra & Former Mayor Sovhan Chatterjee were brought to the CBI office in connection with Narada Scam
— ANI (@ANI) May 17, 2021

Sources in the agency said that after interrogation, these leaders have been arrested and they will be produced in the court later. The action has been taken after the state governor Jagdeep Dhankhar approved the CBI to run the case against these leaders. Sovan Chatterjee, who was associated with TMC at one stage, joined BJP in 2019, but left after the party denied ticket in the assembly elections. On the other hand, Madan Mitra had won the Kamarhati assembly seat in the recent elections.

Politics has also intensified over the CBI’s action. TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that we condemn it and it is a revenge-like attitude. At the same time, BJP says that it has no role in these arrests. Party spokesman Samik Bhattacharjee said, ‘We have nothing to say. BJP has nothing to do with this.’

The arrest of the ministers has once again exposed the case of Narda scam which emerged before 2016. In fact, in the Narada sting operation, several senior TMC leaders were seen taking cash in exchange for the help of a fake company.